


The Heir to the Empire

by OddlEnough



Series: The Sanitization [2]
Category: Splatoon
Genre: But no, Major Original Character(s), Might be a better term, Mind Control, Mind Manipulation, Mind Rewire, Virus, Zombie Apocalypse, as soon as i decide what im doing with my life, here we go weve got the second part, hope you dont mind, i would have more tags, might also be a good way to describe this, more tags to be added i guess, oh boy, though, you would think that after 5 chapters
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-05
Updated: 2021-03-08
Packaged: 2021-03-16 06:55:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 10,748
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28577856
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OddlEnough/pseuds/OddlEnough
Summary: They thought it was just a sickness, they thought they could cure it, they thought they could save them.Unfortunately, they failed.Aloha struggles to escape the clutches of the virus that is slowly making its way to his brain and Team Octo, who have now taken over Camp Triggerfish as their base of operations. Can he find a way to escape with his friends watch them turn with him?Army and Mask sit in their apartment, terrified of the continual attacks on various buildings in Inkopolis. Robberies in the stores and homes of the people living in inkopolis have left the public scared. The sanitized cephalopods jump from place to place, looting and destroying things in their path. Can Army find out how to save his friends, or will he ever find their base?--------' "If…” She stopped and stood up. “If I…end up like them– um, the sanitized people that is… before you do too…” '' Aloha waited for her response for a moment. '' “Don’t let me forget who I am…” '
Series: The Sanitization [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2084259
Comments: 6
Kudos: 9





	1. Camping trip?

**Author's Note:**

> PART 2 OF: IT STARTED WITH AGENT 3
> 
> Yayyyyy so excitedddd
> 
> I will say though, updates will be slower this time, because of how long I made the first one, I'm assuming the rest will belong as well. So, just don't expect updates so often ;v;
> 
> I love my readers <3 thank you for keeping me into writing this story!

“Watch it! That hurt…”

The young octarian boy only glared at him. Aloha rolled his eyes and looked away.

He was currently standing in front of Pony, who was sitting on a desk. “Name?”

Aloha stayed silent. The octarian behind him placed his splattershot in his back. “She asked you for your name… Answer your superior.”

Aloha squirmed and tried to wrench his hands out of the octarian’s grip. “She’s not superior to anyone you–”

“I know your name, Aloha.” She crossed her legs and leaned back. “Hmm… Skills? If you have any, that is…”

“Bitc–” The guard shot once into his back. Aloha hissed and arched his back in pain. His back was now covered in ink that burned his skin.

Pony looked at him with boredom. “Maybe you’ll be more compliant when you’re fully sanitized. But from the looks of it…” She stood up and grabbed his face with her hands and grinned. She ran a thumb on the line of green that ran across his face, running from his ear, over his bottom lip–

He jerked his head out of her hands. “Don’t touch me.”

“…It won’t be long until you turn completely.”

He glared at the girl in from of him. She just smiled in return. “Take him back to his camp, and send in the next one…”

The octarian behind him held his grip on his hands as he led him out of the room. Aloha squinted as they exited the small building, his eyes blinded by the setting sun. He jerked his wrists from the octarian, and this time they were let go. Unfortunately, they were let go because of another sanitizee, this time, an inkling with her tentacles cut short. She had a gun as well, but her’s was a squiffer. He fought back the urge to make a remark about it.

“He needs to return to Camp 3.” The inkling nodded at the octoling and took her place beside Aloha. She put her gun to his back and pushed him, making him stumble forward in the classic steriotypical prisoner fashion. Eh, at least his hands were free.

He was lead around dozens of other campsites, all with green or partially green cephalopods, all in groups of four. Or, teams, I should say. Most of them looked at him as he passed by, but some of them were busy collecting sticks from the trees around them or sitting by their already lit fires. Aloha looked at the sky in front of him, looking at the beautiful colors of orange and pink and blue mixing in the sky.

Too bad he was trapped in Triggerfish.

Aloha and his inkling guard finally made it back to his campsite. “Thanks for the painless transfer…” He said. The inkling stopped for a second, seemingly comprehending what he just said.

“You’re… welcome?”

He smiled at her. She walked away uncomfortably. A small chuckle escaped his lips. He did his best to stay optimistic and _not angry at everything_ , but it was hard. It was funny to watch the sanitized people not know what to do when he complimented or thanked them. They totally didn’t have any idea of how to respond to that with their set demeanor other than being rude. Also, he could have sworn the octoling guarding their campsite chuckled, even a _little_ bit at what just happened.

“So… I’m back!” Aloha grinned as he walked into the campsite. Cici looked up from the fire.

“Aloha! Oh thank goodness you’re alright…” She stood up and hugged him tightly.

“What did you think was going to happen?”

Cici pulled away for a second to give him a scolding glare. “Oh I don’t know… you could have gotten hurt on the way, or they could have hurt you, or you could have absolutely blown up and tried to escape, in which scenario you would have been caught. And _hurt.”_

“At least in that scenario, I would have taken down some of them with me, right?”

“I guess so…” Cici pulled him on once more before letting go and walking back to the fire and squatting next to it. “I think Dianne said she’d bring over some food… They made dinner tonight in the dining hall. I think she said we’d have to wait a bit, since we’re so far away.”

A wave of guilt hit Aloha like a boulder. Would have telling Dianne to run instead of hiding kept her from being caught? This question had been driving Aloha crazy for the past week. He stood there in silent sadness.

“Aloha? You ok..?”

He shook off his head. “Yeah, I’m fine… Where are our octoling friends at?”

“Oh, they left to go gather sticks or something…” Cici poked at the fire with the branch in her hand. “Poor guys, they’re still in shock or something…”

“You can say that again… Only spoke maybe five words yesterday, combined.” Aloha sat on a log by the fire. He stared into the flames. An awkward silence held out between the two. “Hey…”

“Hm?” Aloha’s eyes flickered over to her.

“If…” She stopped and stood up, stretching her legs. “If I…end up like them– um, the sanitized people that is… before you do too…”

Aloha waited for her response for a moment.

“Don’t let me forget who I am…” She turned her head away from him and wrapped her hands around her arms.

“Aw, sis…” He stood up and walked over to her. “Don’t talk like that. If anyone of these people will remember everything, It’s you.” He placed his arm on her shoulder and leaned against her. “You’ve just got that… stubbornness.”

She elbowed him in the stomach.

“Ow…”

“Y-You deserved it, idiot…” Aloha turned her around and wrapped his arms around her lightly. Cici exhaled a shaky breath and hugged him back, resting her chin on his shoulder. “Fine… I won’t talk like that again… Only if you promise not to let me forget.”

“Promise. Swear on my life.”

She grinned into his shoulder. “Your life means nothing to me, Aloha.”

Aloha pulled back and feigned offense. “How dare you, child.”

“Oh shut up, you not-brother of mine…” She smiled and sat down on a log by the fire. Aloha went to sit by her, but just then, a voice rang out from the campsite entrance path.

“Food, food, get it while it’s… Well, it’s warm-ish, at least.” Dianne walked into the camp with a bright but tired smile on her face. The black tee and shorts she was given when she got here to replace her nurse’s uniform were covered by a less-than-white apron. “You guys camp so far away from the dining hall.”

“Like you can say anything, your campsite is legit right across from ours,” Cici said, walking over and taking two of the four tinfoil-covered bowls in her hands.

“Glad you came to see us, Dianne. Thanks for bringing us dinner. You know, we could have gone and got it ourselves…” Cici embraced her friend for a second before pulling back and lifting the tinfoil off one of the bowls.

“Oh, shush. I know how much you’d… rather not see some people.”

Aloha clenched his fists. He never liked Hachi, rubbed him the wrong way. He was fine with the other three, but him specifically… He never forgave him for that one fight they had. And now, he disliked him even more for what he was putting them through. Sanitized or not… still hated him.

Cici looked up from the table and to Aloha, who immediately pretended as nothing happened. “We should find the Octo boys. It’s getting dark, and there’s food for them.”

A figure emerged from behind one of the two tents. His front tentacle swept in front of one eye as he carried a small pile of sticks.

“Oh, hey Alex! Thanks for finding us firewood!” Cici smiled at him. The octoling boy shyly smiled back as he placed the sticks down by the fire. He figeted with his skull bandana, which was hanging around his neck rather than around his face. “Where’s Seb?”

Alex just shrugged and looked back into the darkening forest. “Somewhere…”

“I’m here…” Another octoling boy came out of the darkness and into the firelight. He was nearly identical to the other boy, only being able to tell the difference by their clothing. He also set down a pile of branches he found next to the other one.

“Cool! Now that we’re all here, we can eat!” Cici opened one of the bowls and lifted it to her nose. Inside was a stir-fry and rice dish. “Mm… this smells heavenly, thanks Dianne,” Cici said.

“Oh, no problem! It’s my job, after all…” She laughed awkwardly as Aloha stood from his seat and walked over. “Oh right, almost forgot…” Dianne reached into her apron’s pocket and took out plastic forks. She set them on the table. “We didn’t have sticky rice, so we made do with what we had…”

The octoling boys grabbed their bowls simultaneously and sat down by the fire after taking a fork with them. Cici and Aloha looked at each other and shrugged.

_‘They’re literally twins, there is no way they aren’t!’_

_‘I know, they have to be! They legit look exactly the same and move the same and everything.’_

_‘I wonder if they’ll–’_

“You two done staring into each other's souls?” Dianne asked, waving her hand between the two.

“Yeah, yeah…” Aloha said, rubbing his neck embarrassedly. “Let's eat, then!”

Cici nodded vigorously. “Before I starve and turn to nothing but skin and bones~” She added a dramatic faux faint.

“You’re already skin and bones.”

“What’re you trying to say, punk..?”

“You’re _weak.”_

“Don’t forget that one time I beat you in a 1 on 1 turf!”

“But that was like, a _year or two_ ago. Doubt you could do it again~”

Dianne heard a small chuckle from the octolings by the fire and joined into full laughter at the two idiots arguing by the table.

_‘Heh heh… we gottem Aloha!’_

_‘Got them to laug_ _h? Yes. But let's be honest, they’re laughing_ at _you not_ with _you~’_

“Why you little–”

“Heh heh… I’m in danger. Be right back!” Aloha sprinted into the woods, Cici hot on his tail.

* * *

Even Hachi could hear the sound of Aloha’s laughter from all the way across the campground.

It bothered him immensely.


	2. They're gone, can't you see?

Army sighed. He needed to get up and move, but without any battles to do, or errands to run, he just sat, lazing on the couch in his living room. He wasn’t going out anyways today, so he wore more comfortable clothes than usual, a navy sweater with white collar just poking out of the neck. The TV was on in the background, but only commercials for a new brand of clothing were on. The news was supposed to be on in a few minutes, he had time to stand up and move, right?

He stood from his spot on the couch and stretched up. His hands pulled down the ends of his shirt as he non-commitally looked around. He went over to the kitchen behind him and grabbed a mug from the top shelf, standing on his toes for a second. Mask had made some coffee before retreating into his room just a few minutes ago, he wouldn’t mind if he drank some, would he?

He poured the coffee into the mug. The hot, bitter liquid almost burned his hands when he picked up the cup. His hands wrapped around the mug and he sighed, happier than before.

“Thanks for tuning into our show today!” He heard a familiar octoling’s voice coming from the screen behind him. He turned around to see the news broadcast had started.

“Sorry there are no battle stages to be announced, it really is a bummer,” piped up the inkling next to her.

Army went back to the couch and sat down once again, his coffee on his lap. “Mask, the news is on, if you want to watch it…”

A door creaked open from down the hallway. “I’ve been trying to reach Aloha for a half hour now… He said he’d call today…” Mask came and sat down on the other side of the couch from Army.

“Maybe he’s getting a surprise test?”

“Who knows…” Mask looked away from his phone and at the TV. “What are they talking about..?”

“I don’t know…” Army replied, _very_ helpfully.

“…of clothing coming out, did’ya hear about that, Pearlie?”

“Yeah, I heard it’s going to be awesome! Bringing back that vintage style with a new jacket and kicks!”

“Now, our next segment is…” Marina did her transition, holding a hand to her headphones while doing so. “There’s been an incident at the hos…”

Pearl’s eyes widened, and she looked over at Marina. “The hospital? What?”

“What do you mean there's been a–”

_“Just read the teleprompter!”_

“Oh, right…” Marina regained her composure. “There has been an incident at the hospital, it looks like it was attacked? No… The patients attacked?”

Pearl continued for her. “The patients that have recently contracted the sanitization virus that has been spreading for the past three months attacked the hospital’s staff and the other patients late last night,” she recited. Her words slowed down as she read from the slow moving prompter. “The patients that revolted were the… frozen ones in the contamination room. Only 9 staff and patients were found in the hospital this morning. Everyone else…is gone.”

“They’re still looking for… people in the building,” Marina said, her face frozen in shock. “But it is unlikely that they will find any others..?”

“No one knows where the hospital’s population went. They are all to be presumed– dead.” Pearl’s voice cracked on the last word. She suddenly shouted. “Why didn't anyone tell us!”

“Pearlie…!”

“No, Rina,” Pearl stood up from her seat and looked past the camera. “You expect us to just read this from a teleprompter? With what kind of reaction are we supposed to have! Where did they all go! Do they have people searching? Why is this _it_ for this kinda thing! Where is the rest of the story!”

_“Cut the feed..!”_

“You can’t just cut me out–!”

Text scrolling across the screen saying ‘ _Your programming will be back momentarily!’_ That was all that was left.

“I–”

Both of the inklings on the couch were stunned into silence.

“This can’t be–”

“It’s–”

“Not possible…”

Mask looked down at his phone. “I couldn’t reach Aloha this morning.”

“I couldn’t…”

Army looked down at his knees, to the floor. “He’s… gone… and Nana, and Forge, and the sailors and Skull and… they’re all… gone?”

…

He stood up. “No, they can’t be… They’re somewhere…”

“Army, what do you mean…?”

“Everyone, they must be somewhere…”

Mask shook his head. “Where…? And why even…? Why did they revolt, why were they awake in the first place..?”

“I don’t… I don’t know, but what I do know is they’re there somewhere. Somewhere…”

“What do you want to do, find them on your own..? What if they arent out there somewhere, what if they really are all…”

Tears sprung to Army’s eyes. “They can’t be dead, they could never… be dead. Aloha wouldn’t allow that.”

“Army… You can’t really think that people infected with a virus could make it anywhere, not in their condition… They’d die on the way…” Army walked to the hallway and a faint sound of a closing door echoed through the silent apartment. Mask could hear the fluttering of papers all the way from the living room.

He stood up from his seat on the chair and turned to go down the hallway where Army's room was. “What are you doing…” He knocked on the door. Army gave no response, only scribbling and moving papers could be heard for behind the door.

He gave up and padded back to the living room. He looked back at the blank screen and sat for a minute. Just listening to silence, a tear rolling down his usual emotionless cheek.

“We’ll miss you…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> They have no idea that they're still alive...
> 
> Ah, tension.


	3. Escape is futile.

“…GAH!”

“Aloha, calm down!”

“How can I be calm! How can…” Aloha trailed off as he pulled back his fist. His face was twisted in a tight grimace. The tree in front of him was bent and broken, the bark crushed under the many blows it withstood. He had been standing there, hitting and punching a _tree_ for at least a half-hour. Cici had finally found him after looking for a while when she noticed he wasn’t at their camp. “…How can I be calm when I can’t get out…”

“None of us can, Aloha…” Cici walked over to him. She gingerly grabbed his hands, holding them in hers. “Why do you do this to yourself? It’s not going to change anything…” His knuckles were cracked and bloody, trails of pink-tinted red running down his hands.

“I can’t just sit here and do nothing, I’ll go crazy.” He looked at his hands. “I have to get out before I become one of them…” His eyes met Cici’s, trying to silently communicate with her, the way they were so used to.

Cici sighed, averting her eyes, refusing his request. “You’ve got to go to the medics. We’ll find Dianne or something. We haven’t seen her in a while, anyways…” The two hadn’t seen much of their friend since Afro noticed her skill in field medicine after he was injured doing… something. She was placed among the rest of the medics in their camp, all of which were fully sanitized, all except her. Though, it seemed it wouldn’t be long until she was too…

Cici turned and started walking back to their camp. “You coming?” She asked, looking back. Aloha nodded and followed her. It was around a 4 or 5-minute walk back. _I went pretty far, huh..?_

“Do you want me to come with you?” Once they arrived, Cici immediately looked around for the Octo boys. “Where did they go this time…”

He looked at the sky, the sun having just peaked. “She’s probably at the tent right now, right?”

“Yeah, Dianne should be there.”

“While I'm out, I guess I’ll go get us food unless you’re coming with me?”

She turned to him. “Yeah, I guess I should. I’ll see if the boys are with the medics, they were supposed to be done with their training with Afro a half hour ago, they’re either there or already in the mess hall.” She stuck her hands into her hoodie pockets and walked beside Aloha down the path.

The walk was quiet. Too quiet for Aloha’s liking. “The security around here isn’t as tight as it started like.”

Cici nodded, looking at the dirt path they were walking on. “Either they trust us more, or we’ve given up enough that we don’t need it…”

He nudged her with his elbow. “Hey, don’t talk like that. If anything, they’re just letting their guard down. It just makes it easier to escape, right?”

“Yeah, but there are still guards, and it’s not like we’ve got any weapons, we’re just sitting here until we’re sanitized…”

“C’mon, Cici, you can’t give–”

“We’re here.” She had a small frown on her face as she removed her hands from her front pocket. He stopped and watched as she walked inside the white tent in front of them. _She’s beating herself up about this, I can tell…_ Aloha looked down at his hand, the bloodstains dried to a magenta. _I… should apologize later, shouldn’t I?_

He pulled open the flaps of the medical tent. It was quite a big tent, there was room for at least 8 beds lining the wall, on both sides of the tent. He looked among the many rushing heads for Dianne. All of the medics in the room had green skin and tentacles, all but one. There was one medic in the room with a bright, bubblegum pink glow.

“Dianne!” Aloha said her name, even though she probably couldn’t hear her name being called. He weaved in between people, occasionally glancing down at the beds, at the people in them. Some looked fine, but some… There were a few who were lying still, a few who were crying out in pain, a few who looked as if they were going to _die_ from the pain. _This is what the ink does…_ The ink hurts you, the ink controls you from the inside, the ink is slow-moving, but it was very effective. He admitted that the green spots around his skin had made him hurt on occasion, and he was forgetting things more than usual, but he had never experienced what they were.

He made his way to the back of the tent, where Dianne was sitting. She looked uncomfortable, dodging glances while at the same time observing everyone around her. “Dianne?”

She looked up at the pink inkling. “Aloha?” She jumped up from her chair and nearly pulled him over in the tight hug she gave him. “Oh, it’s so nice to see a familiar face…”

He smiled as they pulled apart. “Nice to see you too. Did Cici not come back here?”

“No, but I saw that she walked in. She might be on the other side of the tent.” She looked to the other side of the tent, her eyes searching for the light blue inkling.

“Anyway… She made me come here so you could fix this.” He held his hands out in front of her, showing his knuckles in the light.

She said nothing, just let out a small gasp before making him sit on the bed beside where she was sitting. “What did you do this time…”

Aloha watched her root through a small basket under her chair. “Oh, nothing, just punching a tree…”

She sat next to him with a roll of bandages, along with a wet cloth and some sort of cream. “You’re going to seriously mess up your hands if you keep doing that… I told you to stop punching things.”

He let her take his hand and start wiping it off with a towel. It stung, but he held in his hiss. “Yeah yeah, but some things are just so… _punchable_ –” He twitched when she pressed the towel into his hand.

“Yeah, like the time you _accidentally_ punched Hachi?”

“Like I said, that was an accident.” He chuckled slightly at the memory. He had tried to escape for the fifth time, but was caught the fifth time in a row. They brought him to Hachi, who was already in a bad mood for whatever reason, started getting shouted at. Aloha snapped - as expected, having had to deal with this four times already - and somehow managed to escape the guard’s grasp and gave Hachi a _nice, hard_ punch to the gut. Of course, he came back… less than unscathed, and was also chewed out by Cici, who decided to tell Dianne the next day, who chewed him out again when she saw his injuries.

“Accident, yeah.” She had bandaged his hands while he daydreamed, having finished them when he came to.

Aloha looked at his now bandaged hands. “Thanks, Di.” He looked at her worried face, her eyes closed as she sat beside him. “So… How has the hospital wing treated you?” Her eyes flew open, she looked at him. He could see tears starting to form. “Woah, Woah, what's wrong?”

She could barely be heard, her voice in a small whisper. “It’s- It’s awful here..!”

“What do you mean..?”

She leaned closer to him, speaking in a whisper still. “All of these people… They’re…” She closed her eyes tightly before opening them again. “Some of them are dying, Aloha… Some of them are just bruised from training, but a lot of the inklings here are having horrible reactions to this ink. I’m doing my best, but some of them, there's just no helping them…”

A single tear rolled down her cheek. She quickly wiped it away, steadying her previously shaking breaths. “The scientists… They're working on something…It’s some kind of strain of this ink that they can use that speeds up the process of sanitization, but I’ve overheard them talking, and… I heard that it could shock a system so badly, one could die in the process. And it would be super painful too..!”

“Hey, don’t worry about it.” He looked at the girl next to him fiddling with her hair. “That can’t happen that quickly, right? Like, this is some ink that totally new, no way they could change it that quickly, right?”

“R-Right…”

He stood up from the bed, offering his hand. “Wanna go get some food with me and Cici? She’s probably over there already.”

Dianne took his hand and smiled as he helped her up. “It's not like I was doing anything, anyways…” They made their way to the door and slipped out. “I didn't see Cici in there,” Dianne remarked.

“She probably did make her way to the mess hall, then.” The two walked beside each other in relative silence for about a minute before the sound of a guitar started playing. “What’s that, you wonder?”

Dianne’s previously deadpan stare brightened, her eyes widening and her mouth forming a grin. “I don’t know, but I wanna see!” She ran ahead of him, leaving Aloha in the dust. He shook his head, smiling, and jogged after her.

He came up to the branch of the path that led to the mess hall and the campfire area. By the building, a sweet aroma that smelled like cinnamon sticky buns wafted outwards, a bunch of people milled around the exterior. They were coming in and out of the building, chatting and walking to the campfire seating area. By the campfire, there were people with food, sitting and talking amongst themselves. He could see Dianne disappearing into the crowd by the campfire, where the guitar was coming from. All of these people… _This could be any normal camping trip, if half of us weren’t about to lose our minds…_ He walked over to the benches, looking for the source of the music. He heard singing along with the plucking of the guitar. He stood on a bench in the outer rim of the circle, looking over all of the heads. There, he spotted it.

The two Octo boys from their camp were singing and playing the music he heard. He believed he saw Sebastian singing while Alex played the guitar, the two in perfect harmony. The tune was soft and melodic, but also had some darker and more invented notes. It sounded like some old song, from a long time ago. All around them, there were people listening, some cheering, even some of the older folk singing along.

He spotted Cici and Dianne standing next to each other, laughing and clapping for the two. It reminded him of when he would practice against their team. Cici, Dianne, Tako, and Tena. They made a great team together. He didn’t know what happened to the other two, though. The boys were probably fine. He chuckled at himself. _I sound like their dad or something…_ He let himself get lost in the music as the Octo boys started to sing another tune. He stood on the bench still, but didn’t fall.

Cici must have seen him at some time because he saw her wave at him for a split second. He grinned and waved back. Her smile quickly turned into a fright, pointing at something behind him. He turned around, but it was too late for it to make a difference

He was pulled off the stool, the tune of the Calimari Inkantation drowning out his muffled shouts as he lost consciousness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh boy this chapter was really something
> 
> It was fun to write, for one thing


	4. Only a Glimpse

“Armyy…”

He looked up from the table in his room. “What’s that, Mask…”

“You haven't eaten since yesterday mooorning… Don’t you want foood?”

Army sighed. “Yeah… I’ll be out in a minute…”

He listened for the soft footsteps from the other side of the door to fade before straghtening up. He had been standing, hunched over his desk for hours now. His back popped as he bent backwards, bringing circulation back. His eyes trailed over all of the papers scattered across the table on the wall of his room, searching for one more thing, one more clue as to the whereabouts of his friends. He had been searching for hours on end, calculating how far they could have walked, where they could have stopped, how sanitized some would be at this moment. Even after all of his looking, he still couldn’t find them…

The door shut quietly behind him as he stepped out of his room. He ran a hand under his newly-cut bangs, pushing them up as he took a deep breath. He stuck his hands into the pockets of his jeans and walked to the kitchen, where Mask was waiting. “What’s this..?”

A bowl of noodles rested on the counter in the kitchen. “It’s a noodle diiish with peanut sauuuce. I found it onliiine and I thought you’d liiike it…”

Army smiled and sat on the stool under the counter. “It looks great, Mask, thanks…” He grabbed the fork next to the bowl and twirled some of the noodles onto it. He took a bite of the noodles. “These are really good, thank you.”

“Thanks…” Mask replied. He spooned noodles from the pot on the stove into a bowl he was holding. He placed the bowl next to Army and took the seat next to him. They ate in silence, the only sound coming from the scrape of their forks on the ceramic bowls. “Soo… How’s your research goooing…”

“Not… not great, I don’t know anything more than before, and the possibilities of their locations just keep getting farther away…”

“Maybe… we could look at the newwws? Maaaybe there's something there…”

“Yeah, maybe…” He watched as Mask stood up and grabbed the remote from the TV stand. Army picked at his noodles, twirling them around the bowl, then letting them fall limply. He took one more bite from the noodles, then turned around on the stool to face the TV. It clicked on, the afternoon news cast starting right then.

“…yo! Welcome back to Inkopolis News!”

“We’d like to begin with, again, no turf stages, but we did hear a rumor that they were going to start them up again soon, right Pearlie?”

Army tuned the octoling on the screen out. His head was in his hand as he looked at the floor. _How am I supposed to find them if I don’t even know if they’re alive, I-_

A knock was heard from the door. He heard Mask call out “I’ll get it,”. He muted the TV and walked to the entryway. The door was opened, and he heard a frantic voice at it’s entrance. Mask muttered something back, the person said another thing, and so on. Not that Army was listening, he was absorbed in his own thoughts. _Have I really thought of everywhere? To the west of the hospital is forests, the east the sea… North is the majority of the turf stages and Calimari County past those, and south is inkopolis. They would have been spotted if they were in any of those places. They’ve been gone for… 3 weeks? 4?_

“Army!”

He looked up to see a sun-yellow inkling run across the room from the entryway, his white coat streaming behind him. “What are you…”

“Army please, I need your help! You’re the only one I know that can help me, and–”

“Slow down, slow down… why would you need my help, Emperor?” Army looked at the inkling would had once bested him in battle. “And who gave you our address?”

“Goggles did a while ago, but that’s not the point here!” Emperor’s eyes flashed. “I need your help, andno one will believe me, but I thought you might…” He took a breath before continuing. “I really, really do think that the sanitized people that broke out of the hospital are out there somewhere, but no one else will believe me…”

Army looked at him, not knowing if he could trust him or not. “What makes you think that I’ll believe you if no one else has?”

“Please…I need to find them, I need to find Cici…” Army glanced at the TV. “Please, you’re my last shot–”

“Wait.” Army stood up, pushing Emperor away for a moment. His eyes were locked on the screen. “Mask, wheres the remote?”

Mask, who had been standing in the entryway watching the conversation unfold, said “I threww it on the couch, in front of youu…” Army snatched it up and pressed the mute button, unmuting the octopus that was speaking.

“–raids on the local shops in Calimari County and Coral Reef. The authorities don’t know whether these attacks are linked with one another. They have yet to find the criminals, as the attacks seem to only be happening at night.”

“The only picture of the perps they have is the security footage from the front of the weapons shop in downtown Reef. Check it!”

A picture zoomed in to fill the whole screen. It was footage from a security camera, that was for sure, with its trademark awful quality and no sound. The footage was the same, the fuzziness ghastly, but Army still watched with intent. The feed seemed the same for a second or two before Pearl interrupted.

“See, right there in the bottom corner! Go back, go back!” The recording rewinded as it zoomed back out and back onto the screen behind Marina and Pearl. It started playing again, and Pearl tapped the screen to stop it. “There! There’s a small little tentacle in the bottom there.”

It was nearly invisible. “How did you see that so quickly, Pearlie?”

“I have the eye of a hawk.” She used her hands to zoom in on the tentacle. “Look ‘Rina, it’s an octo, green and blue.”

“There’s not many tapered octolings, are there?”

“Not that I know of. I-” She cut off for a second, her eyes trailing behind the camera. “As much as I’d like to keep talking about this..”

“We have to continue to our next segment now.”

Pearl flopped back onto her chair, crossing her arms. “And my detective skills were finally going to be worth something for once.”

“I know, Pearlie… Anyways, today is the annual… ” Army pressed the mute button again, cutting off her voice.

“Green…”

“Armyy? What…”

Army walked right to his room without answering Mask’s question. The two remaining in the room looked at each other before following him.

“What did you mean, green?” Emperor asked.

Army rifled through the papers on his desk, searching for something. “Green and blue taper. Thats the same thing that the sanitizing does. It makes a tapered green to blue to whatever color they were born with. Here:” Army pulled out a picture from the bottom of the pile. “This is a picture of Skull, his tentacles were sanitized, and–”

“…the colors are the same as the one’s in the video.” Emperor took the picture and examined it.

“When did youuu get a picture of Skuull…” Mask asked.

“When Aloha would video chat with us, I took a screen shot each time so I could remember how fast they were turning…”

Emperor looked back at him. “How fast?”

“Oh, uh… by my observations, which I have written down somewhere…” He shuffled some more papers around before lifting one up. “Aloha looked as if he would need another month or two before he loses body function, Skull only a few weeks…”

“And when did you last see them?”

“These are my observations from the last call we did, about four and a half weeks ago.” He noticed Emperor’s expression as he looked at the desk, his brows furrowed and his eyed narrow. “Cici, from what I saw…” That caught Emperor’s attention, him immediately looking up at Army. “…she looked fine for a while. It would take at least a month for it to get up to her shoulders, much less mess with her neural pathways.”

Emperor let out a long-held breath. “I-” He looked back to the desk. “Thank you for telling me…”

Army smiled. “You seem to be enthusiastic enough, at least.”

“For what?”

“You wanna find Cici, right? Are you helping me or not?”

“Really?”

Army held out his hand. Emperor took it and they shook. “It’s settled then. You will be joining me and Mask.“

“I neever said I was a paart of thiiis...

"Too bad."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So sorry this chapter took so long, I lost motivation for a while, but now I think I have enough planned to keep me going! Thank you for reading, it keeps me motivated :)


	5. A Dash of Pink

Murmuring was the first thing he heard when he slowly came to. His head pounded, body ached, and his sight was swimming before his eyes. He couldn't remember any of the events of the last day, or two? He couldn't even tell anymore, his internal clock was screwed up. He didn't make any sound, though, just attempted to listen through the ringing in his ears.

"... _subject. If our cal...should be sanit...by tomorrow evening."_

_"Should we send him back to c...terwards?"_

_"Why not."_

_"Anyways, is he awake?"_

_"He should be by now."_

Footsteps started to echo towards his location. But not to him? They took a turn, starting to fade before he heard the sound of a door shutting. He slowly lifted his head from the position it was in, hanging limp against the head of the medical chair he was sitting in. He lifted his hands, only to have them stopped by cords holding them fast to the chair's arms. Leaning forward, he saw that his legs were the same way.

Aloha looked up and around the room. There wasn't much to look at, it was just a plain white room with two windows on either side. Next to him, there were monitors, keeping tabs on his heart rate, blood pressure, and oxidation levels. Now that he thought about it, there were wires hooked up to him already. His blue shirt was unbuttoned fully, exposing his chest. There were 3 wires on his chest, two he could feel protruding from his back. Not only were there wires attached to his chest, but there were also multiple bruises forming on his ribcage and stomach. _'When did I get those...'_ He wondered. ' _Must've been in the past... however-long-I-can't-remember.'_

He looked at the door on the wall opposite of him. It was slightly open, just a crack. If he could get out of the chair, could he escape? He had no idea where in triggerfish he was, though. Where would it lead? ‘ _I'll worry about that when I get out. Right now, I just need to get there...'_

He looked down at his wrists, which were tied to the chair with some sort of cord. When he checked, his ankles were the same way. He pulled against his restraints, seeing if he could loosen them at all, but they wouldn't budge. He looked at the tables on either side of him. There wasn't anything there for him to use, other than perhaps a black case that's laying ominously on the table. He laid his head on the headrest.

_"Are we working on him first or the other two?"_

_"I can worry about the other two if you want to get him."_

Aloha quickly shut his eyes and pretended to still be out.

"Well, I suppose this does make my job easier."

The door in his room closed. Footsteps resounded throughout the room as a relatively tall octoling came closer to him. He heard the latches on the case next to him flip. He peeked through his eyelids to see the figure removing a small syringe.

' _Scratch what I said earlier, I need help in alpha-'_

"Copy that, be right there."

The person left the room suddenly. Aloha heard the door slam behind him. He opened his eyes and immediately looked at the needle that was placed back inside the case haphazardly. If he would just reach that, maybe he could use it somehow. His hand reached out to grab it-

“ _Wait no! Stop!”_

Shouting came from the other side of the window. Aloha’s eyes snapped to the scene.

_“What are you doing!”_

The two octoling boys he camped with, Sebastian and Alex, were in the room next to him just on the other side of the window. They were both in chairs like his, tied down like his, but their situation was quite a bit different. There were two people in the room along with the boys, and one was holding a syringe, not unlike the one on the table next to him. To him, it looked like these were the doctors he saw when he went to go visit Dianne in the medical bay. One held the syringe, moving closer to the boy with the braid. He was struggling, but utterly helpless.

_“Wait, no, stop! Don’t touch Alex! Stop!”_

_“You need to insert the needle in a spot that's already sanitized, remember? We talked about this.”_

_“Alex!”_

Aloha saw Sebastian tugging at his restraints, trying to free himself, trying to reach his brother. _“Get away you sick freaks-!”_

He saw Alex looking back and forth, a terrified look on his face. _“Seb..!”_

_“Will they ever stop talking?”_

_“I dunno, the one has been talking non-stop since he woke up.”_

_“Seb…”_

He saw the doctor with the needle move closer to Alex. Sebastian screamed out from the seat next to him.

_“Get away from him… ungh-!”_

He saw the cord restraints cut into the boy’s wrists.

_“Seb… tell Awei-”_

_“No! You’ll be fine, I swear! We’ll be fine, we’ll-”_

_“-I love her.”_

With those last words, the needle was plunged into his shoulder, in a spot of green. Alex shuddered, his body tensing, and then fell limp onto the chair. His eyes glazed over, a pink sheen appearing over his golden irises.

_“Alex no! NO!”_

The two doctors looked at Sebastian now.

_“…’ Bout time we shut him up.”_

Aloha snapped to his senses. _I can’t just watch them-_ He pulled at his restraints, one of the cords loosening. His hand started to slip, but was still stuck fast. The scene in the other room wasn't getting any prettier, either. The two white lab coats had drifted over to a table by the door while the boy continued to yell at his unconsious brother, tears dripping onto his shirt.

Aloha’s wrist finally pulled out of the cord. He quickly moved his arm to the other side of the chair, fumbling with the knot. The sanitized doctors looked over at Sebastian. One of them was holding an empty needle while the other held a small bottle of pink liquid.

He finally got the knot on his other arm loose and wrenched that one out too. He took one look at the window before going to his leg. That knot didn’t take long, nor did the one on his other leg. The grey cord slithered off his legs like a snake. His feet hit the floor hard as he jumped out of the chair and ran to the door.

He pulled at the knob but the door was locked. He frantically looked around at the blank room. _The case!_ In this case, he found a syringe and a small bottle of liquid, not unlike the ones he saw in the other room. He grabbed the syringe, looking at the tip. ' _It’s possible I could use it as a lockpick? Try it-!'_ He ran up to the door once again, needle in his hand, and jammed the tip into the lock. He moved it around, straining his ears to hear the click that signaled it was open, but heard nothing, no matter how frantically he twisted it.

_“Get away from me you bastards!”_

Aloha threw the syringe on the floor angrily and looked back at the window. There was no turning back now.

_“Get- No!”_

Aloha moved to the window in a second, watching the boy as his head was held in place by one doctor, the other pouring the liquid into the body of the syringe, a considerable amount more than was given to his brother. Sebastian’s eyes flashed, flickering around the room before his eyes met Aloha’s in the window. They widened as he raised his voice to shout more.

_“Lucky! Find Lucre-”_

He was stopped by the plunging of the needle into his cheek where the discolored skin resided. He shuddered, tensed up, and fell limp, identical to his brother who lay motionless in the chair beside him. His eyes faded with the same pink sheen, still staring at the window.

_“Finally it’s quiet in here.”_

_“What do you think he was yelling about anyways-”_

_“Who knows. But I do wonder-”_

The lab coat turned around and looked at the window. The octoling in the coat’s eyes widened when he saw Aloha standing there at the window. His hand flew down to the walkie-talkie on his waist and shouted.

_“Beta room! Security in beta-”_

Aloha flew away from the window and ran to the center of the room. He looked around again, but there was nothing for him to use, nothing for him to remove, nothing for him to escape with. He snatched the case up, latched it, and prepared to swing it at the first person who came through the door.

The first person to come through the door was the octoling lab coat from earlier. And with a hard swing, he was out cold. The other doctor who was right behind him yelped and looked at Aloha before turning and fleeing. Aloha ran out of the open room with the case still in his hands, looking down the hallways. ‘ _To the left or to the right.’_ There were faded footsteps coming from the left, so he went right.

Bad decision-

Two armed sanitized guards met him at the first bend, surprised to see someone running through the halls before realizing this was the problem in beta. Aloha stepped back before sprinting the other direction, only to find two more guards by the door to his room.

The two he met down the hallway raised their guns, one a scoped charger and the other a splattershot. He could outrun the splattershot, but the scope? No way. He turned to face them, raising the black case threateningly.

The two guards by his room caught him from behind before he had the chance to move any more. They grabbed his forearms and dragged him back to beta, where the timid doctor that ran away was waiting for him with a loaded syringe.

They pushed him back into the chair, holding him down while they messily tied knots around his limbs once again. He struggled, pulled, even tried punching, but it was no use. The lab coat forced his cheek into the headrest, exposing his neck. The needle stung as it was forced into the side of his neck.

A shudder-

A tense-

And he fell limp.

The last thing he saw was the lab coat retreating out of the room as his eyes glazed over with a dash of pink.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter took so long to write, it was really hard to write out a scene like that mostly because my writing style is so casual. But, I think I did it! Maybe-
> 
> More chapters will come out quicker this one just took a long time-


	6. Emergency Broadcast

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think the chapters for at least a little while will be shorter
> 
> I write shorter chapters faster and I have more motivation when they're shorter, so hopefully updates will be more often!

_“…the camera on yet?”_

_“Yes, we’re rolling! And go quickly-”_

A small pink and white inkling popped onto the set of the news station. “Hello? Hey!”

_“Hurry up Pearlie-!”_

“Right- Ok y’all, I've got info on the sanitization that they really didn't want you to see, but we thought it was important! Last night-”

An image showed up on the screen behind her. Pearl pointed to it.

“-a photo was taken in downtown Reef. Look, it's the sanitized people from the hospital breakout a month ago!”

The image showed a green-skinned octoling, their tentacles tinted magenta at the ends, then going up in color from purple to blue to a bright, neon green. They were poised, looking at the camera with a glare.

“…the person who took the picture was Half-Rims, a known competitor in turf wars. He has not been seen since the photo was taken. We only have this picture because he sent it to Gloves, a friend of his. Gloves posted it on his social media page before it was quickly taken down by the media site’s mods. Thankfully we received the picture through… other sources, who I won’t mention for their own safety-”

_“Pearlie, I think I hear someone coming-”_

“Oh-” She turned around to look at all of the people outside on the street taking videos, watching with earnest. She then turned to the camera. “We’d better run before they catch us here. Remember, watch your back, and don’t get cooked, stay-”

_“Pearl I hear-“_

The sound of a door opened behind the camera. _“Pearl-”_

A soft but firm male voice sounded from the back of the room. _“You were not authorized for this-!”_

_“We need to tell the public what is happening!”_

_“This is going to seriously hurt your reputations-”_

“Don’t care! The people need to know about this thing! The last time it was discussed on air was _three weeks ago_ when the snap of a tentacle was seen!”

_“This segment was not approved!”_

“A dude _disappeared_ yesterday! Is that _not_ newsworthy?”

 _“Not on this news channel-”_ There was the sound of more people filing into the room. _“Get them out of the studio. And wipe the footage, we don’t need that spreading.”_

“Hah! Good luck, suckers! We’ve got people videoing this right now!”

_“Get her out. And for cod’s sake, turn off that camera.”_

Flick.


	7. Maps be like that Sometimes

Army paced the living room. Mask was leaning on the arm of the couch while Emperor sat in the armchair. “What could it mean…”

Emperor’s eyes flicked up from the floor to Army’s distressed face. “What could what mean?”

“That picture.” Army stopped and looked at him. “We saw Nana in the picture. She was sanitized. That has to be proof about the sanitized victims still being alive, right?”

“We don’t know for sure-”

“-if anyone would be _dead_ , it would be Nana or Pony. They were the worst off out of everyone I had seen before the hospital raid.”

Emperor furrowed his brows and looked at the floor once more. Army resumed pacing. “Can I see the piicture agaiin,” asked Mask.

Army pulled his phone out of the back pocket of his slacks and started furiously tapping. He turned the phone around after a second and walked to Mask. “There. See? Nana doesn’t look dead, does she?”

“That depends on how you define deaaad-”

“Fine, she looks dead _kind of_ , because of the green skin and tentacles, but she looks _alive_ at least, doesn’t she?”

“I gueess…”

He pulled the phone away from Mask frustratedly. He stuck it back in his pocket before sitting down on the opposite end of the couch where Mask was sitting and buried his face in his hands. “It doesn’t make sense. Where did she come from anyways? How did she get to Coral Reef? Is that not across the bay from Inkopolis?”

“Well… It’s like 65 kilometres away from the hospital, it would take at least three hours by train, and the only road I know of that goes from here to Reef is through Camp Triggerfish, with a ferry in between.”

Army snapped up to attention. “Triggerfish? There’s a connection through Camp Triggerfish?”

“I guess if you’ve only ever traveled through the battle monorail, then you wouldn’t see it, but yeah. My family went there once as a ‘family bonding’ trip.”

“I’m assuuuming that didn't gooo too well…”

“Oh, no it went fine, it was just really boring-”

Both Emperor and Mask jumped with surprise when Army stood from the couch and ran to his room. “What are yooou doing…” After some faint sounds of paper flying and things falling on the floor, he came back with a map.

“Emp, where’s that road?” He placed the map onto the coffee table. It was a map of all the battle transits, as well as some major roads. Traveling by car wasn’t very common anymore, though, so only the well-traveled roads were recorded.

“It runs from here,” He placed his finger on the edge of Inkopolis. “through here.” He ran his finger up through the forest and to Camp Triggerfish.

“And if the hospital is here-” Army placed a small x on the map up near the bay at the bottom of Inkopolis using a black pen. “Then if they went to Triggerfish, their path would’ve been like this-” He drew a line from the hospital going south, ending up on the road connecting with Camp Triggerfish. “They would have had met up with the road. From there, travel would be easy and much faster.”

“-they could take one of the stages… as their base of operations?” Emperor finished. If he were to be honest, it seemed a bit far-fetched to him, but hey. Army was the tactical genius in the room, he _probably_ knew what he was talking about. “Wait- wouldn’t it be really risky traveling on the road? Even with how uncommon they are, cars could still come down the road, couldn't they?”

“It’s possible but _very_ unlikely. The stage is closed, and so is the open camping, there should be no reason for anyone to be traveling there. And if all that's closed, they could use the ferry without anyone noticing.”

“Fair-”

“…It would make total sense for them to get back there. I mean, Hachi and the others lived there, of course they would go back-”


	8. Caught on Camera

“I’m… sorry for getting caught.”

“It's alright… the job I gave you was ridiculous, anyway…”

“I can try it again-”

Hachi looked up from the table. “Nana, no, it’s too dangerous- You’re lucky you made it out the first time. It’s incredible you managed to bring someone back with you at all, albeit forcefully…”

“I can do it, I promise! I just need to find her alone, it’ll be fine-”

“Please,” Hachi said with a sigh. “I… I don’t want to worry about you as well. I’m already worried about the twins in the med wing, one of them isn’t reacting too kindly with the expediter. Even Aloha’s having issues, and as much as I wanna kill the guy, I can't let him die- I don’t want to worry about you too.”

“I-” Nana stepped forward and placed a hand on his own. He was gripping a pencil so tightly it looked as if it might snap from the pressure. She carefully removed it from his palm and gently rubbed the back of his hand. “You don’t have to worry about me, I’ll be fine. The worst they could do is lock me up someplace. Focus on what’s here. You were tinkering with the spawn points, correct?”

“Mhm,” he mumbled.

“So focus on what's here. Getting stressed out isn't going to help-”

“I know, but it’s just-” He paused. “It’s hard. I’m _literally_ the heir to an empire, I just need to figure out how to grow it. And since the phone is gone, I have no way to connect with it but my gut feeling, whatever he's telling me in my brain.”

“Then go with that. You’ve got this. The only people opposing you are outside these walls. There are only a few left not fully sanitized, and they will be soon. Don’t worry about them, they’ll realize that we’re the best option soon, the outside world is nothing but a mess. We have structure, and that's what they want, so don't worry about them.”

“I… ok.”

“Constructing our utopia’ll be easy as soon as we get everyone to join us. And we have the telephone in charge, this can’t go wrong unless some kid off the street gets recruited like always. And even then, we’ll be prepared. Alright?”

“…Right. And I’ll work on those spawn points some more, they’re close but the sanitized ink messes with the calibration-”

“In the meantime, I’ll go find her and bring her home. Deal?”

“Deal…”


	9. Between Nurse and Trainer

“What’s wrong now.”

“He’s… he’s not doing well. His oxygen levels are super low, his airways are collapsing-”

The octoling exhaled, obviously annoyed. “Pony, I get it. We screwed up by giving him the ink expediter. How do we fix it?”

“We have him on oxygen right now, it’s keeping him from suffocating. We haven’t completed every test, but at the moment it looks like if we don’t permanently keep him on oxygen, he’ll be rendered immobile.” She looked at the octoling in front of her with fear in her eyes.

“…There’s no other way?”

“It… doesn’t seem so. The expediter made his lungs start to collapse in on themselves when they came in contact with such a different ink. The air pump, as well as the oxygen, is helping keep them at a relatively normal size, but unless he heals _extremely_ quickly, it could be years before he’s fully recovered.”

He hit the desk with his fist, startling Pony. “How is he going to perform with an oxygen mask on? No one’s going to want to watch that. Sickly people don’t make good celebrities.”

“Afro, he can’t perform in this state, there's no way! Forcing him to even move without the air is difficult enough, you can not put him through that kind of physical strain!”

Afro grabbed a relatively empty paper off of the desk and a pencil from the other side and started drawing on it.

“…What are you doing-”

“Sketching. If he has to wear a mask, it better look like an idol’s mask. Here, take this to Hachi, get it approved.”

“I can’t, the patient-”

“-was sanitized for a reason. We have to fix this mistake somehow, or at least find a way to work it in our favor. Is his brother okay?”

“Yes, he's fine, but-

“If his brother’s fine, there's no problem. Put him through physical therapy, get him walking again. Get him _moving_ again, we need him ready for physical training by next week.”

“You can’t-”

“I can.”

“He’ll die of physical strain-”

“Not if you take care of him. It’s possible for him to get up and moving, right?”

“…yes, but-”

“Take this sketch to Hachi, have him build it, and this problem will be solved. And make sure he makes one similar for his brother too, they need to match, even a little.”

“…I knew we shouldn't have used something experimental on people _so_ _important_ to our cause.”

“…Get out, go do what I said.”

“Fine. But if he gets hurt, it’s your fault.”


	10. Come With Me

It was dark. Not stormy, not even cloudy, just dark. It was a clear, still night, and the octoling just wanted to walk. The moon illuminated the aboveground subway system, casting an eerily pretty glow off of the black concrete.

She had been in the studio for hours. They barely let her off for any breaks, considering the stunt she pulled the other day with Pearl. The studio executives told her that the information she tried to get out was wrong, inaccurate. There was no virus. It had been eradicated when the hospital was abandoned. The virus didn’t exist any longer.

There was no way. _No_ way she was wrong about the virus. It was there, it was dangerous.

She thought. Maybe. There was no proof that the virus actually did anything but make you sore wherever it touched. And, of course, the fact that you were frozen when it reached your brain. That too.

She shrugged her hoodie farther up her shoulders, the cool air chilling her neck.

Then, she heard something. Only a wisp of the wind, probably, but she was set on edge regardless.

There it was again. A wisp. She might’ve even heard a footstep somewhere in there. It was entirely possible. But improbable, right?

_“Hey-”_

Not a wisp this time, but a whisper. “Who… Who’s there.”

_“If I tell you, will you promise not to freak out?”_

_What kind of a question is that?_ She gulped, her heart beating faster. She spun around, looking for the figure, but didn’t see anyone around. Only the sidewalk, some bushes, and an old street mailbox. “I… I guess so…”

A light green octopus came out from under that old-timey mailbox. _“Hi-”_

Marina bent over to look at the little green octopus. Her tentacles were tapered in a rather peculiar way. The ends were a pretty magenta, and from there it went up into purple, then blue, then into her main body of green. “Why are you still in your octopi form? Wouldn’t you be more comfortable on your feet?”

 _“Maybe…”_ The octopus started to change. It grew its legs, spread its arms, and prepared for something dramatic. “…Hi..?”

Marina just stared. _It… It’s sanitized!_ They weren’t eradicated, after all! “I- I- I…”

The octoling just looked at her as she stuttered. Didn’t blame her, after all her skin was a light minty green, her iris bright blue with black the rest, and her tentacles neon green. It was quite a sight. “Don’t freak out! I swear, getting sanitized is only a cosmetic thing!”

“How- what.. but- you-” Marina took a sharp inhale. “How are you here? We were told you were totally wiped out during the hospital raid!”

“You really think that the raid would kill us?” The green octo smiled. “We caused the raid…”

Marina’s eyes widened even more than they already were. The girl realized what she had said. “No no, I didn't mean it like that, uh… how do I explain it…” Her eyebrows furrowed as she thought. “We… were fully cured after a month or two, totally got over it, but… they wouldn’t let us out because of our sanitized appearance.” The thought of being caught in her blatant lie by the people in power was enough to scare her just a tad. “We formed our own society-thing. And, if you would like to, we want you to… well, to join us!”

“Me? To join… you…” Marina faltered. “I- Why would I join you if the sanitization is a near-deadly virus?”

“But it’s not! You can see, I’m perfectly alive and well, right?” She did a little spin in place.

“Yeah, I guess… but the society I'm in right now is just fine, why would I need to join yo-”

“Haven’t you noticed how they don't tell you anything?”

“What-”

“Have you noticed?” The octo questioned. “They don’t tell you anything but what goes on the news. Doesn’t that seem so wrong? They didn’t tell you anything about us, only that we were ‘eradicated’ at the hospital. And that was fake news. So what real anymore? Can you trust your producers to tell you the truth?”

“I… I don’t know…”

“I, obviously, have total brain function. I don’t sound mind-controlled, do I? Not like the sanitized souls in the Metro.”

“…Yeah, you do… But why would I come with you when everything here is normal? Relatively. Turf wars are still mostly closed. And there have been people disappearing around the city…”

“Did your producers tell you that?”

“..No, but other people I know did-”

“Don’t you think that's something that should be covered on the news? Have you done a segment on that yet?”

“No-”

“Exactly. The news outlets can’t be trusted.”

“I…” The girl made _some_ sense. “But… I can’t leave Pearl, she’d kill me for it-”

“What’s worse, one friend lost or being lied to every day. We have a better community than this polluted city could ever have. Pearl can join us later, even. I’m sure convincing her wouldn’t be hard. Just come now, and help us bring order to this place.”

She paused. “…Order?”

“Yes, order. With us, you can help bring order to this chaotic world. It’ll finally be the utopia you always wanted, just come with me…”

“I…” She looked behind her shoulder. The thoughts in her mind conflicted, but eventually, she decided that... “…I will. I’ll come.”

“What perfect timing, too! A train just pulled up!” Sure enough, a monorail train had just stopped beside them. “We can take this to Camp Triggerfish, where you’ll be staying with us.”

“Okay…” She stepped onto the train. “What was your name? I never asked-”

The girl looked at her with a smile. “The name’s Nana, pleased to make your acquaintance, Marina.”

As the train began to move, Marina found herself staring out the window at the bright, lit-up city of inkopolis. ”G’bye Pearl… see you soon…I hope…“


End file.
